International Baseball Federation

Infobox Organization
name = International Baseball Federation


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abbreviation = IBAF
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formation = 1938
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type = International sport federation
status =
purpose = Sport governing body
headquarters = Lausanne, Switzerland
location =
region_served = International
membership =
language = English, Spanish
leader_title = President
leader_name = Harvey Schiller
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website = http://www.ibaf.org/
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The International Baseball Federation (IBAF) is the worldwide governing body for the sport of baseball. It sanctions play between teams sponsored by the national baseball federations of member countries through competition tournaments including the Baseball World Cup, the World Baseball Classic (in conjunction with Major League Baseball), the Intercontinental Cup, and the Olympic baseball tournament (in conjunction with the International Olympic Committee). Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland.

IBAF was founded in 1938. It changed its name several times in its history - in 1944 it took on the official name "Federación Internacional de Béisbol Amateur (FIBA)", in 1973 it spawned the rival "Federación Mundial de Béisbol Amateur (FEMBA)", which merged back with FIBA in 1976 under the name "International Baseball Association (AINBA)", changing the official acronym to "IBA" in 1984, before returning to its original name and abbreviation in 2000.

The 112 countries in the IBAF are represented either by a country-specific federation (e.g. USA Baseball) or one of the five different confederations:
* African Baseball & Softball Association (ABSA) - 16 member countries
* Baseball Confederation of Oceania (BCO) - 15 member countries
* Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA) - 20 member countries
* Confederation of European Baseball (French:"Confédération Européenne de Baseball") (CEB) - 40 member countries
* Pan American Baseball Confederation (Spanish:"Confederación Panamericana de Béisbol") (COPABE) - 26 member countries

Presidents

*Leslie Mann (United States): 1938
*Jaime Mariné (Cuba): 1939 to 1943
*Jorge Reyes (Mexico): 1944 to 1945
*Pablo Morales (Venezuela): 1946 to 1947
*Chale Pereira (Nicaragua): 1948 to 1950
*Pablo Morales (Venezuela): 1951 to 1952
*Carlos M. Zecca (Costa Rica): 1953 to 1968
*FIBA: Juan Isa (Netherlands Antilles): 1969 to 1975 (FIBA from 1973 to 1975)
*FEMBA: William Fehring (United States): 1973 to 1974
*FEMBA: Carlos J. García (Nicaragua): 1975
*Manuel González Guerra (Cuba): 1976 to 1979
*Robert E. Smith (United States): 1981 to 1993
*Aldo Notari (Italy): 1993 to 2006
*Harvey Schiller (United States): 2007 to present

References